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Franklin Dewey Richards (1821-1899)
}} Franklin D. Richards - popular mormon missionary and 1st president of Utah Genealogical Society Biography Franklin Dewey (1821–99), served several short missions prior to his marriage to Jane Snyder in December 1842, but in May 1844 he was called on a mission that required him to leave his young bride in Nauvoo. With heavy heart, Franklin obeyed the call of the prophet. At that time, he wrote: “O God, extend thine arms of love Around the partner of my heart, Since thou has spoken from above And called me with my all to part.” After serving another mission in England from 1846 to 1848, Franklin D. Richards was ordained an apostle on 12 February 1849. Franklin D. Richards devoted himself to genealogical work as early as 1855. At that time, he assisted in the preparation of a genealogy of the Richards Family in America, continuing this research throughout his life. He was responsible for the baptism of more than four thousand of the deceased members of the Richards, Dewey, Comstock, and Snyder families. When the Genealogical Society of Utah was organized in 1894, Franklin D. Richards was its first president. He died in 1899. Marriage & Family Franklin Dewey Richards had 13 wives. 1st Marriage: Jane Snyder Jane married Franklin D. Richards in 1842. During the first fifteen years of their marriage, her husband was on Church missions for a total of ten years. The most difficult of these separations occurred in 1846 as Jane was preparing to leave Nauvoo for the West at the same time that her husband was called on a mission to England. While on the pioneer trail in Iowa, Jane delivered a son, Isaac, in July 1846, but he died shortly thereafter. She was still numb from that shock when her two-year-old daughter, Wealthy, died. # Wealthy Louisa Richards (1843-1846) # Isaac Phineas Richards (1846-1846) - died on same day as born. Listed on front side of Mount Pisgah Monument. # Franklin Snyder Richards (1849-1934) - LDS Church attorney and married to Emily Sophia Tanner (1850-1929) who was a delegate to the first National Council of Women in 1888. # Josephine Richards (1853-1933) - women's suffrage activist and counselor of LDS General Primary Presidency ## Franklin Lorenzo Richards West (1885-1966) - 8th LDS Church Commissioner of Education 1935-1953. # Lorenzo Maeser Richards (1857-1883) # Charles Comstock Richards (1859-1953) ## Franklin Dewey Richards (1900-1987) - LDS Missionary and Seventy general authority. 2nd Marriage: Elizabeth McFate While on the pioneer trail in Iowa, Jane delivered a son, Isaac, in July 1846, but he died shortly thereafter. She was still numb from that shock when her two-year-old daughter, Wealthy, died. By this time her husband’s plural wife, Elizabeth McFate Richards, lay seriously ill with tuberculosis, and Jane gave her continuous care until Elizabeth died in March 1847. 3rd Marriage: Susan Peirson His third wife was his cousin, Susan Sanford Peirson (1831-1878), also a granddaughter of Joseph Richards (1762-1840). They had three children. # Nancy Eliza Richards (1857-1935) # Albert Damon Richards (1860-1945) # William Pierson Richards (1864-1946) 4th Marriage: Mary Thompson At age 18, Mary Thompson (1827-1905) married famous LDS Apostle, Willard Richards (1804-1854), Franklin's uncle as a polygamous wife. After his death she married Franklin and had four more children. # Myron John Richards (1858-1938) # Wealthy Richards (1861-1940) # Mary Alice Richards (1863-1926) # Wilford Woodruff Richards (1866-1912) 7th Marriage: Rhoda Foss On 06 Mar 1857, he married Rhoda Harriett Foss (1830-1881) in Salt Lake City, Utah. 10th Marriage: Nanny Longstroth Like Mary Thompson above, Nanny Longstroth (1828-1911), had also been previously married to LDS Apostle, Willard Richards (1804-1854). # George Franklin Richards (1861-1950) - LDS Apostle, President of Salt Lake Temple and Acting Patriarch to the Church. ## LeGrand Richards (1886-1983) - LDS Apostle and Presiding Bishop of the Church. References * Jan 1980 Ensign: They Served - Richards Family Legacy in the Church * Franklin D Richards Journals Online - Complete collection of all records, journals, letterbooks, and other articles for him and several of his close family members. * Joseph Richards 1762 Immigrant Ancestors * General Authorities of the LDS Church